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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dwight E. Karlsen who wrote (9967)	5/28/1998 9:11:00 PM
From: Beachbumm	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

To all: Has anyone seen this yet? I am LOL. REDMOND (BNN)--World leaders reacted with stunned silence as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) conducted an underground nuclear test at a secret facility in eastern Washington state. The device, exploded at 9:22 am PDT (1622 GMT/12:22 pm EDT) today, was timed to coincide with talks between Microsoft and the US Department of Justice over possible antitrust action. "Microsoft is going to defend its right to market its products by any and all necessary means," said Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. "Not that I'm anti-government" he continued, "but there would be few tears shed in the computer industry if Washington were engulfed in a bath of nuclear fire." Scientists pegged the explosion at around 100 kilotons. "I nearly dropped my latte when I saw the seismometer" explained University of Washington geophysicist Dr. Whoops Blammover, "At first I thought it was Mt. Rainier, and I was thinking, damn, there goes the mountain bike vacation." In Washington, President Clinton announced the US Government would boycott all Microsoft products indefinitely. Minutes later, the President reversed his decision. "We've tried sanctions since lunchtime, and they don't work", said the President. Instead, the administration will initiate a policy of "constructive engagement" with Microsoft. Microsoft's Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myrhvold said the test justified Microsoft's recent acquisition of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation from the US Government. Not only did Microsoft acquire "kilograms of weapons grade plutonium" in the deal, said Myrhvold, "but we've finally found a place to dump those millions of unsold copies of Microsoft Bob." Myrhvold warned users not to replace Microsoft NT products with rival operating systems. "I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator inside of every Pentium II microprocessor," said Myrhvold, "but anyone who installs an OS written by a bunch of long-hairs on the Internet is going to get what they deserve." The existence of an RTG in each Pentium II microprocessor would explain why the microprocessors, made by the Intel Corporation, run so hot. The Intel chips "put out more heat than they draw in electrical power" said Prof. E. Thymes of MIT. "This should finally dispel those stories about cold fusion." Rumors suggest a second weapons development project is underway in California, headed by Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems. "They're doing all of the development work in Java," said one source close to the project. The development of a delivery system is said to be holding up progress. "Write once, bomb anywhere is still a dream at the moment." Meanwhile, in Cupertino, California, Apple interim-CEO Steve Jobs was rumored to be in discussion with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison about deploying Apple's Newton technology against Microsoft. "Newton was the biggest bomb the Valley has developed in years," said one hardware engineer. "I'd hate to be around when they drop that product a second time."

To: Dwight E. Karlsen who wrote (9967)	5/29/1998 1:59:00 PM
From: cheryl williamson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

Dwight, I've noticed, over the past few months, that MSFT supporters have acquired a siege mentality that has replaced the former unbridled optimism of the 1995-1997 era. It's turning into an "Us against the World" diatribe and the tendency is to lump many MSFT competitors into the same boat & call them whiners, complainers, & sore losers. Ok, fine, but SUNW, for its part, is not letting the grass grow underfoot. While McNealy takes his shots at MSFT in the press, SUNW continues to pursue its course of action to gain marketshare in corporate computing while expanding into consumer electronics, internet, electronic commerce, & home computing markets unfettered by the legal problems that have beset MSFT. Why do you think it is, Dwight, that so many computer companies seem to go about their business without any major legal problems and some, like MSFT, get sued left & right??? Is it that success breeds contempt & envy?? MSFT isn't the only successful corporation in America. In fact, their gross revenues aren't that much higher than SUNW's, which is also true of their eps. SUNW doesn't have anything to gain by the DOJ's insistence that MSFT change its boot-up screen or include NSCP browsers in Windows 98. In fact, SUNW is NOT interested in seeing MSFT enjoined for their publication of a non-compatible Java in Windows 98. Instead, they would like to see Windows 98 shipped & sold with a 100% compliant Java. The sale of Windows 98 isn't going to hurt Solaris sales & its success would be a success for BOTH companies, as long as MSFT abides by the terms & conditions of their contract with SUNW. I believe that MSFT is running into legal problems because more and more people just don't like the way they conduct their business. Their shenanigans have been going on as long as I can remember, and finally the chickens have come home to roost. Sure, everyone plays hardball, but if you cross over the line one time too many, word gets around, & people get pissed off and start using you as a punching bag. In the mid-term and long-term, this is going to hurt their company. It's too bad that the heavy-hand of the Federal Government had to be called into the fray, but MSFT have only themselves to blame. Remember the TCI negotiations?? MSFT & SUNW were both vying for access to the set top box market. MSFT had the inside track with Windows CE & MSFT was set to invest, I believe, around $1 billion in TCI, just to insure their success against SUNW. John Malone, of TCI, was wary of MSFT, however. He didn't want anyone coming into the cable business & taking over. At first, he tried to give equal access to both SUNW & MSFT by awarding contracts for Windows CE & Java-built set top boxes. Later, however, as the negotiations with MSFT continued & their legal problems mounted, Malone started leaning toward SUNW & eventually awarded the contract for some 20 million set top boxes to the underlying Java VM. Windows CE- built set tops will HAVE to be compatible with SUNW's Java.